Introduction

In the case of the colonial history of Laos, the thin spread of documentation, uneven in quality, suffering lacunae and in a state of deterioration, further strictly delimits the scope for a more contextual reading. Laos, was not only an economic backwater but, as measured off in meters of surviving archival deposits, of negligible concern to capital alongside Vietnam. In the pre-1975 period, visits to Hmong refugee settlements inside Laos and to Hmong and Yao villages in Luang Prabang and Xieng Khouang were useful. Hopefully the National Institute of Social Sciences, and which emerged in Laos in 1988, will expedite the research needs of foreign scholars in the area. On a separate tack, a number of western-based Hmong scholars have been active in oral history reconstruction, and this endeavour can only be encouraged. The chapter also presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in this book.